Man killed in Englewood neighborhood related to longtime activist

Ronald A. Baskin, 21, was fatally shot driving from his great-grandmother's home on Sunday afternoon. (WGN-TV)

Ronald A. Baskin, 21, was fatally shot driving from his great-grandmother's home on Sunday afternoon. (WGN-TV)

By Carlos Sadovi and Kim GeigerTribune reporters

The great-nephew of a prominent Englewood community activist was fatally shot as he was driving from his great-grandmother's home Sunday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood, according to family and police.

Ronald A. Baskin, 21, of south suburban Lansing, was leaving his great-grandmother's house on the 6500 block of S. Morgan Street and was headed to his uncle's home on the 6400 block of S. Green Street when he was shot, his grand uncle Hal Baskin said.

The shooting happened on the 6500 block of South Green Street at about 4 p.m., police said.

Baskin, a well-known activist in the Englewood community, said his nephew appeared to have been shot in the neck.

Hal Baskin said his great-nephew and his grandson had driven by the home of Hal Baskin's mother to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and were on their way to his home.

"This is a heck of a gift to a mother and a grandmother on Mother's Day," Baskin said. "This is something that should never be visited on a mother or a grandmother on Mother's Day. I don't wish that on nobody."

Baskin said he did not know who the shooter was or what had motivated the killing. He said his nephew was not in a gang.

Ronald Baskin was working toward becoming a barber, and "wasn't a bad kid," Hal Baskin said.

Ronald Baskin had purchased the Chevrolet Blazer over the weekend from his mother and was driving the SUV along with Hal Baskin's 20-year-old grandson, Hal Baskin said.

"They turned the corner, shots rang out, (my grandson) ducked and the next shot rang out and he turned and saw that Ronald had been shot. (Ronald) was holding on to his neck and he couldn't talk," said Hal Baskin. "They targeted the vehicle, I don't know if he was the intended victim or not."

He said after shots continued to ring out, his grandson and the other men in the SUV jumped out and fled, Hal Baskin said. Police officials said Baskin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hal Baskin, 60, has worked as a community activist for 40 years and is a former gang member. Baskin, who is a perennial candidate for alderman in Englewood, is executive director of the PEACE Community Center, an anti-violence group in the neighborhood at 6455 S. Peoria Ave.

Baskin said he does not believe that the shooters were trying to target him because he said he and his group work to help community kids find jobs and educational opportunities, he said.

"I would be the least targeted, I walk three miles, three days a week through the same neighborhood," he said. "I'm not a hard target if this person is looking for me, but that's not the case."

He said he has spoken with the local police commander about the shooting and will share any information he garners from his sources with police.

In other shootings since Sunday afternoon:

• About 1 a.m. this morning, two gunmen approached a 24-year-old man walking in the Englewood neighborhood and started shooting, police said. The man was shot in the upper thigh and taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where his condition was stabilized. The shooting happened in the 5500 block of South Sangamon Street on the South Side.

• An 18-year-old man was shot in the chest about 7 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of West 16th Street and South Millard Avenue on the West Side, police said. A male shooter approached on foot and fired shots, striking the man in the chest, police said. The shooter then jumped into a white vehicle and fled southbound on South Central Park Avenue, police said.

The 18-year-old man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition.

• An 18-year-old man is on life support after being shot about 6:30 p.m. along with a 15-year-old boy in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, according to Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford. Police and fire officials originally said the 18-year-old, who was shot in the head, had died.

The two victims had been walking west from a gas station at 79th Street and Ashland Avenue. At the corner of 79th and Paulina streets, someone walked up to them and opened fire, police said. Both victims were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The condition of the younger victim, who had been shot in the leg, was stabilized at the hospital.

• A 17-year-old boy sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, police said. After the shooting, which happened on the 7700 block of South Seeley Avenue in Gresham, the teen was taken to Christ, where his condition was stabilized.